Director of Engineering

Clark Material Handling•Lexington, KY

10d

About The Position

The Director of Engineering is responsible for the design and support of CLARK products in North America, with overall responsibility for engineering products built in Lexington to ensure they meet technical and market requirements and the CLARK “Built to Last” philosophy. The role represents CMHC on the Global Product Planning Committee and reviews designs from overseas engineering centers for products sold in North America. It reviews new-project scopes, leads quality improvement initiatives, and oversees engineering support for new and current equipment. As a senior leader, the Director ensures that department priorities, investments, and initiatives advance CLARK’s Three Points of Contact Strategic Framework: Sales Growth, Urgent Customer Service, and Culture. The role drives engineering innovation, responsive product support, and talent development while adapting to evolving customer and market needs. It oversees product engineering, engineering processes and resources, customer and dealer support, product quality, budgets, capital expenditures, and coordination with manufacturing and global engineering teams. Periodic domestic and international travel is required, as are meetings and teleconferences with international teams that may occur outside normal work hours.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering.
15 years of experience in engineering and product support, including oversight of multiple projects and management of engineering teams and projects.
Demonstrated success leading organizations through strategic initiatives supporting business growth, customer satisfaction, quality improvement, and organizational development.
Ability to build high-performing teams and foster accountability, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Ability to make sound business and technical decisions aligned with CLARK’s strategic priorities of Sales Growth, Urgent Customer Service, and Culture.
Comprehensive knowledge of the forklift and material handling industry.
Strong analytical skills.
Polished dealer and customer presentation skills.
Sound technical and business judgment.
Maturity to interact effectively with managers in other departments and upper management.
Must be authorized to work in the United States indefinitely without sponsorship.

Responsibilities

Ensure engineering initiatives, resource allocation, and strategic decisions support Sales Growth, Urgent Customer Service, and Culture.
Drive innovation and new product development to strengthen CLARK’s competitive position, support sales growth, and create value for dealers and customers.
Promote urgency, accountability, and customer focus across engineering, service, warranty, and technical support functions.
Build a high-performance culture that supports engagement, collaboration, continuous improvement, leadership development, and accountability.
Evaluate major engineering projects, investments, and process improvements for alignment with strategic priorities and long-term objectives.
Plan, organize, direct, monitor, and control the product engineering process and establish an effective work environment.
Plan department facilities, equipment, and services.
Manage engineering design and development of new products and support for current production products.
Collaborate with other department leaders to develop Engineering strategic goals aligned with corporate strategy.
Lead engineering process improvements and adoption of effective engineering tools to improve new-product development quality and pace.
Promote cost-effective design, design-to-cost, and common-parts use to create cost-reduction opportunities.
Establish, monitor, and improve key performance indicators for innovation and new-product development.
Lead resolution of critical customer and product issues through root-cause analysis.
Build, coach, mentor, and develop an effective engineering team and high-performing talent.
Allocate engineering resources and skills so projects meet plans and technical, cost, quality, and schedule requirements.
Ensure products comply with safety and other statutory requirements.
Oversee customer-service support for dealers and customers addressing application and service issues.
Review dealer service and warranty issues and mediate sales-policy decisions fairly and consistently.
Lead efforts to improve the quality of all CLARK products, regardless of manufacturing source.
Establish quality reviews, lead monthly warranty reviews, and ensure appropriate corrective actions and engineering change requests are generated.
Collaborate with CMHC manufacturing operations to run modification operations cost-effectively and safely while meeting customer delivery requirements.
Create and control department expense budgets and plan and implement capital expenditures.
Review personnel actions and ensure adequate organizational training.
Plan orderly transitions for employees nearing retirement and oversee careful selection processes for new hires.
Partner with the Global Engineering team to ensure global projects meet quality, cost, and delivery targets.
Review field issues with engineering and service staff and ensure appropriate corrective actions and engineering change requests are generated.
Attend meetings and teleconferences with international engineering, quality, and affiliate teams, sometimes before or after normal work hours.
Travel periodically, domestically and internationally, to support customers, sales teams, distribution partners, and CLARK manufacturing locations.